Greshmahg

To those asking the difference between these and the strawberry ones or if you can grow other things in them:

The tomato one is a vinyl sack with a big hole in the bottom that you put 2 tomato plants.

The strawberry one is a vinyl sack with about 15 holes cut in the sides of it that you stuff strawberry bushes.

Conceivably, you should be able to grow things like cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, watermelons, etc. out of the tomato ones if you put them close enough to the ground. And in theory, you should be able to grow things like jalapenos and other fruit bearing bushy things out of the strawberry ones.

But again, they didn't work for me at all. This year, I spent 60 bucks on a 4 tiered growhouse from Lowe's and got some planter boxes.

I mean think about this: I live in Seattle, Washington. The lushest, greenest state in the entire country. You could plant a bat turd and something would grow out of the ground up here, yet I couldn't get anything to grow out of these.

jonmok1989

Batman4oz

Well, I DID have one of these...it was only $4 at Walmart! But...while they were starting out, in the little pots, I opened my kitchen curtain the next morning after planting the seeds....and knocked the whole thing into the sink!
So...tried again, salvaged a few seeds, put them back in the window....and then when they did grow...the cats ate them!
Gave up...will try again outside!
And you can get these for $7 at Big Lots. Good luck!

jjx2nc

jim5554

I've tried them. To make it a fair test I did it for two consecutive years. The plants look nothing like the ads. They're spindly and disease prone. The design results in a plant that is constantly wet. The water drips from the bag and soaks the stalk. If you don't keep the soil wet, the roots dry out and the plant dies.(They do that pretty fast anyway). The bottom line is this. Tomato plants were designed by nature to grow up, not down. The plant expends too much energy trying to correct this and becomes spindly and weak. Will you get tomatoes? Yes, but no where near as many as if you planted them in a simple pot. If you want tomatoes and your space or energy is limited, do a search for self watering containers. They can be homemade out of simple materials and they work terrific. These things are a waste of money. The sun also does a number on them. That's why my test was 2 years instead of 3.

ozmotion

bohoho wrote:The astonishing truth is that plants want to grow right-side up. When you try to grow them upside down, they put all their strength into growing upwards. Who knew?

Is this really true?

I think the real truth is that plants want to grow towards the sun. The sun usually happens to be up, and thats how plants usually grow. If anything, growing down should allow them to expend less energy, since nutrients for new growth don't have to travel against gravity.

If you hang one of these indoors, where the light comes in pretty much sideways, then there wouldn't be a bias towards growing either up or down, so all else being equal, I'm guessing it shouldn't fare much worse than a regular pot.

I'm not a plant expert, however, I'm just working through this thought with plain logic.

bagpiper

Nope. Not gonna happen. I have a black thumb and usually kill plants in record time. This just gives me the chance to do it twice as fast. As a token of my respect to the plant kingdom, I shall forego my attraction to this woot!!!

kellermk

I've got some that I hang under my patio. I grew bell peppers and cherry and small yellow pear tomatoes (not all in the same planter). Haven't had any problems with them falling apart. I don't quite fill them all the way up with dirt or soil, only about 3/4 full. Hook them up to a drip line tied into the sprinkler system and they don't dry out. I wonder what a carrot would do in one of these?

sc4bbk

charva1

dreemstealer wrote:I'm in for the Twofer. My only complaint is that they dry out like no other. Handy if, like me, you're stuck in a cruddy apartment. I plant tomatoes in the bottom and strawberries on top.

If you have issues with the soil drying out, I suggest mixing in some of ploymer crystals into the soil. They absorb 10 times there volume in water and slowly release it back into the soil. However, be careful not to use too many, as they expand to 10 their size when they've fully absorbed water. Do a google search for Polymer crystals, or ask your local nursery.

blueconversechucks

I bought and used one of these from Walgreen's last year. It was like $7. It worked really well for me. I didn't even hang it up until August and I still got about a dozen small tomatoes. It doesn't look great up close but from a distance, it's very pretty hanging there with all the foliage. I had it hanging from a trellis on my roof deck so it got tons of sun all day. It works really well as advertised and it grew fast and prolific.

A few caveats: you really REALLY must water it every day. The way it is designed, the water flows through so it can't hold much water at one time. And the greenhouse style of the container, which keeps the soil warm and helps the plant grow faster, also makes the soil dry out very quickly.

Also due to the design, you have to use a pretty large seedling when you start. The first time I tried it, I used the size recommended in the instructions (about 4 inches if I recall) and the water running through when I watered gave it such a beating that it didn't survive. I would recommend a seedling of 8 to 12 inches. But once you get it established, if you water it daily, it will go crazy.

A few people have noted that these are fragile. It's true, at least of the plastic top which you have to be pretty ginger with. The wire lines and metal triangle hook it hangs from were very sturdy but now show signs of rust. I don't know for sure but I won't be surprised if one snaps during its second year outdoors.

I would not plan on using this indoors unless you can keep a bucket directly under it to catch the runoff, or have some large basin or flooring to catch the runoff. It really gets everywhere and it's hard to see what you can do about that. Also, I think you would need south facing windows for that to work. Not uncommon, but worth considering.

I got just one last year as a tester and was very pleased so in for six or maybe just four, haven't decided yet.

MindlessAutomata

I think the real truth is that plants want to grow towards the sun. The sun usually happens to be up, and thats how plants usually grow. If anything, growing down should allow them to expend less energy, since nutrients for new growth don't have to travel against gravity.

I'm not a plant expert, however, I'm just working through this thought with plain logic.

Nope, there's some cellular mechanism in plants that gives them a "sense" of gravity.

Well, plants do try to orient themselves to the sun, but realize that a seed in the ground can be placed in any way, and under the dirt there's no light. So there must be (and is) some way for them to "know" how gravity is acting on them.

ionman

If something bad were to happen... say the hook you put in the ceiling to hang these from pulled out because you didn't quite have it in a stud... then you've got 18 quarts of wet potting soil to clean up. Not what you'd want over carpet.

Also, once the plants start to bloom you'll need to either let some bees at them (NOT ideal indoors), or cross pollinate them by hand.

Here's the thing I find strange about these things. All rooted plants have been evolving for something like a couple of billion years on this planet so the roots typically grown DOWN into the soil and the leaves grow up toward the SUN. So how do they figure that plants will actually grow better / produce better fruit this way? The ONLY advantage I can see to this is keeping the fruit off the ground to avoid some pests / ground rot. You can do the same thing by using a tomato cage in your garden. (A wire frame surrounding the plant, supporting it.)

bsteenson

My wife got me one of these last year because I love tomatoes but don't have anywhere good to grow them. I followed all directions as closely as I could. My first attempt I think I used a too-small starter plant, as the stem broke in a strong wind. My next attempt with a larger plant was more successful. Got a very nice crop of tomatoes throughout the season.

These dry out quickly. Use good soil with a high organic material content to hold the moisture, and water every day. It's hard to overwater because the excess just dribbles out the bottom.

I got a case of blossom end-rot about halfway through the season. Cured it by adding calcium to the soil (pulverized egg shells).

Toward end of the season it got so heavy with tomatoes that the main stem cracked, but that didn't seem to stop tomatoes from growing.

I'm going to use them again this year, but will probably attempt to rig an automatic daily watering system to make even more foolproof, and will start with some calcium source in the mix.

treinhardt

I bought a knock off version and planted a container friendly tomato plant last year. My planter was brown in color but had the same look as the green planter being sold here. I'm assuming mine was made "after hours" at the Chinese factory.

I actually grew tomatoes in mine, but the squirrels enjoyed them before I could. They picked off almost every one of my tomatoes before I ended up covering it with bird netting. It probably would have yielded 20-25 tomatoes in all.

Summary:
Anyone considering this should research the best type of tomato to plant. I did have to water it everyday.
I did notice that the stalk was looking pretty gnarly from all of the water that would run out (but it lasted the whole season). Also, the bag did deteriorate pretty badly from being in constant sun and I'm not sure this would last another planting season.

zephalis

Although these are a novel concept, they do not work well simply because they fight the very mechanisms that cause plants to thrive.

The leaves and fruit getting more water because of gravity is complete bunk, likely made up by some ad executive. To explain this you need a primer on botany but the gist of it is that leafy plants have little holes on the bottom of the leaves called stomata. These open and close based on several environmental factors including temperature and humidity. When they are open they release moisture which evaporates causing a slight decrease in pressure allowing the pressure gradient at the roots to push water and nutrients into the roots and up the plant. [contrary to popular belief plants don't use capillary action].

Weak stems also reduce yield (I forget why but you can see this in upright plants as well). The leaves themselves have to reorient themselves to face up making them constantly fight their own genetics and makes daily leaf rotations physiologically more difficult reducing the available energy for developing fruit.

EDIT: Think of it this way...try not using your arm for a month and see how much strength you have left 9o)

The 18 quart size is also terribly small for the roots themselves in a tomato plant and WILL stunt it's growth. The first result of any environmental stress in a plant it weak structure and low yields.

----------
If you want to try this concept for less money get a 5-10 gallon bucket, poke a 1/2-1 inch hole in the bottom (for the stem) and 20 or so holes in the sides (for air [and yes I do mean air in the soil]) and put a lid on it...same concept.

----------
Also, something people usually run into is that 18 quarts of soil, watered, with a tomato plant in them can weigh anywhere from 70-100 lbs! This limits where you can hang the thing.

charlcas2

Greshmahg wrote:Conceivably, you should be able to grow things like cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, watermelons, etc. out of the tomato ones if you put them close enough to the ground. And in theory, you should be able to grow things like jalapenos and other fruit bearing bushy things out of the strawberry ones.

But again, they didn't work for me at all. This year, I spent 60 bucks on a 4 tiered growhouse from Lowe's and got some planter boxes.

I mean think about this: I live in Seattle, Washington. The lushest, greenest state in the entire country. You could plant a bat turd and something would grow out of the ground up here, yet I couldn't get anything to grow out of these.

Yeah, tomatoes and peppers need sunlight and warmth in addition to water. At best I've been successful in Seattle with 50% of my peppers. Tomatoes are slightly better, but that depends on the breed.

casey00001

You will do just as well with a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot or Lowes about $2.50. Just cut out the small bottom circle with a utility knife. The five gallon bucket holds plenty of soil and fertilizer and soil and retains water.
In this way you don't have to stake your tomatoes (pain) and also don't have to worry about weeds.

jxbwoot

Pufferfishy

ebuckle wrote:Had two of these - never again! Plants looked cruddy, and tomatoes nowhere near as good as the ones in the raised beds directly adjacent. Plus after one season, they started to decompose...

bohoho wrote:The astonishing truth is that plants want to grow right-side up. When you try to grow them upside down, they put all their strength into growing upwards. Who knew?

I was going to comment on how these don't work - but these 2 posts tell you everything you need to know. Also - you will be watering these every day if you want them to live. You'd be better off with a coffee can on your porch.

zephalis

For those trying to pick a variety of tomato, the University of Illinois has a good primer on some of the types (actually quite a few). There's a section of dwarf plants (container plants) which may actually work better.

wildfirex

As a novelty these will function if you like to babysit your plants. ADVICE: insert a prob therm into the side and monitor on hot days (soil may end up cooking the roots @ 120+ deg ish).. not really the best idea for the masses. But for a few that can sit all day and watch them in 100+ deg heat. Good price! And @ woot it's about the $$$ right???

ionman

Greshmahg wrote:I mean think about this: I live in Seattle, Washington. The lushest, greenest state in the entire country.

I'm also originally from Washington and I've never considered it to be the "lushest, greenest state in the entire country." But, I'm from the Kennewick area, so you're talking about an average of only, what, 7-8" or rainfall a year?

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